


By Any Other Name

by thatnerdemryn



Series: Em's Femslash February 2020 [4]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Bad Pick-Up Lines, Coming Out, F/F, Flirting, Mother-Daughter Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:13:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22579909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatnerdemryn/pseuds/thatnerdemryn
Summary: Jia wants 'H' to stand for Hector or Henry. Aline knows it stands for 'Heaven' (or Helen if she's honest).
Relationships: Aline Penhallow & Jia Penhallow, Helen Blackthorn/Aline Penhallow
Series: Em's Femslash February 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1621414
Comments: 3
Kudos: 32
Collections: Shadowhunters 2020 Femslash February





	By Any Other Name

Aline caught the fire message that shot over her shoulder with an uncharacteristic squeal escaping her lips. She had been waiting for it for  _ hours _ . The last she had heard from the New York Institute was that Izzy was in trouble and it had something to do with the heavenly fire that Helen was working on. The thought of Helen was what had her heart racing just a little faster. The fire message was quick and to the point, but yet, that was Helen. She didn’t beat around the bush. She didn’t tiptoe around her bisexuality or the fact she thought Aline was beautiful. And Aline honestly couldn’t stop thinking about it. 

_ Heavenly fire is close to contained. But I can’t stop thinking about another heavenly fire waiting for me in Alicante. (Hint: It’s you). - H _

Aline held the message close to her chest and bit down hard on her lip to try and contain her smile. She had heard lame pick up lines before, mostly from men that she was not or ever would be interested in. To see them written out for her from a woman had her breath catching in her throat. Yeah, it was incredibly lame but by the angel was Helen incredible. She made the mistake of shutting her eyes so she didn’t see anyone coming until the fire message was snatched from her hands. 

“H? Who’s H?” Aline looked up, her eyes wide as she saw her mother, Consul of the Clave, standing before her. There was a grin on her lips that made Aline’s spine curl. “Aline? Are you… seeing someone?” She asked softly as she rested a hand on her daughter’s shoulder. Aline nodded slowly, her eyes unable to meet Jia’s. 

“It’s… new,” Aline whispered as she reached for the fire message. Jia pulled it back with a teasing smirk on her face. Aline tried not to let it bother her. Her mother didn’t know why Aline was being secretive. She probably assumed it was because she didn’t want her mother to know about her love life. 

“H,” Jia said again. She hummed to herself and cupped her chin in her hand as though she was thinking. “I got it! Hector from London. He’s a smart boy. Going to run an Institute one day, that one.” When Aline stayed silent, an annoyed look on her face, Jia just laughed brightly and kept guessing. “Okay, not Hector… So, it must be Henry from the Denver Institute. The weapons master. He’s a strong fighter, I approve,” Jia complimented. Aline sighed heavily and shook her head. She inhaled sharply and pulled every ounce of courage that she had to stare at her mother. 

“It’s none of them, mother,” Aline said, a shake in her voice that she was ashamed of. She was training to be a strong willed and fearless shadowhunter and her voice couldn’t stay steady as she spoke with her own mother. 

“Whose name is it, then?” Aline held her mother’s eyes and felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest. She used every second of training she had to take a deep breath and stop her hands from trembling beside her. 

“Helen. Helen Blackthorn,” Aline said firmly. That time, her voice didn’t waver and her hands stayed steady as she reached for the fire message. She wasn’t about to let Jia take off with the one thing that had made her smile in the last few days. Aline kept her gaze on her mother, a fire in her eyes, as they both held the message in their hands. Everything was out in the open and for the first time in years, Aline felt more powerful than her mother. 

“H-Helen?” Jia stuttered out. Aline was expecting judgment to lace her mother’s tone but there was none. There was a sadness to it that had Aline’s throat tightening. She didn’t want her mother to be sad about this because all she felt was happiness. She felt it surging through her since the minute she met Helen and solidified exactly who she was. 

“She’s a Blackthorn, _Consul_. I thought you would be happy about that,” Aline commented sarcastically. The Blackthorns were a notoriously well known family in the shadow world, but that wasn’t what had Jia stuttering, Aline knew. Helen had seelie blood. Tainted blood from Jia’s perspective. Not even brushing upon the fact that Helen was a woman. Aline fought down the urge to run as she realized what a horrible mistake it was to come clean to her mother. She should have just said it was Henry. Then she could’ve hidden her sapphic tendencies away for even longer. But she wouldn’t have been happy, she thought to herself. Hiding herself had never been easy, especially when Jia always tasked her to train the female shadowhunters new to Alicante. Jia exhaled loudly and let go of the fire message, much to her surprise. 

“Invite her to Alicante so that the  _ Consul _ can meet her. You can decide if your mother should,” Jia said sternly. She turned away from Aline without another word but Aline was stunned into question. 

“You want to meet her?” Aline asked. She cursed herself silently for the smallness of her voice. Jia turned back to her daughter with a soft smile on her face. Aline ran and crashed into her with a hug so fierce, she thought she might have broken some of her mother’s bones. Jia chuckled and with a shake of her head, wrapped her own arms around her daughter. 

“Helen Blackthorn is an… odd choice. But I know my daughter well enough to know that she makes her own choices and I am unable to change them,” Jia said as she pulled back from Aline, resting her hands on her shoulders. “And I don’t want to change anything about you,” she finished, bowing her head to meet Aline’s eyes. Aline nodded and tried to hold back the tears threatening to fall. Jia nodded back before walking into her office. Aline watched her for a moment before reading over the fire message once more with a quiet giggle bubbling out from her lips. She reached for her stele and wrote her own message back to Helen. 

_ Come to Alicante and I can show you just how heavenly I can be. -A _

**Author's Note:**

> These two and their queer antics. Gotta love them. And Jia, surprising us all. 
> 
> Feel free to shout at me on [Tumblr](https://archeryandeyeliner.tumblr.com/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/thatnerdemilyj).
> 
> Please leave kudos if you like it and comment to make me smile.


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